Aya's Archery News

It's hard to believe I am coming up on 10 years of competition archery! 10 Years! And while I have had plenty of reasons to quit, to give in when confronted by yet another road block, to pack up and go home when the going got tough... I am still here shooting my bow and arrow in whatever capacity I can.

Before his passing, I was honored to talk to Earl Hoyt Jr, one of the greatest engineering contributors to the sport of archery and bowhunting. At 89 years old, I recall telling him how much he inspired me. When asked in what way, I told him... in longevity. That a person can do archery from their youngest years to the day they cross the last bridge was the greatest inspiration for someone who does not like to quit when they start something.

And I did start something. I set goals for myself. While these goals are not always the same, I keep moving towards them. They change over time and adapt according to the state of the day... family, health, economy, work issues... these tend to morph my goals from being the world's best to simply getting all my arrows to hit the target.

It is not easy to accept when larger goals are simplified due to circumstance but I believe the true beauty is that there is always a bar that can be set large or small. Knowing when to relinquish the larger goal in lieu of a realistic one... it is very difficult.

Losing site of these higher goals has often made me want to quit. I loved being at the top and these grand goals were indeed realistic but now, they simply are not... at this time.

Yes, I am further down the mountain so I need to set my sights on the path that I can see in front of me right now. Doing so, it is possible I may get within reach of the peak once again.

Tomorrow I go to the US Indoor Nationlas. I am not ready and I know this. I was supposed to shoot the regionals in Andover, MA coinciding with a trip to Archery USA this weekend but I fell terribly ill and unable to fly, I had to cancel the whole trip. So, I will attend the Indoor Nationals in California. After a round of antibiotics, I am starting to feel some relief so I will drive 4 hours away to shoot the west regional here.

I accept the circustances that have surely hindered my goals for the Nationals. At the same time, I remember that at one piont in this 10 years I have been shooting I was happy enough just to hit the target. In other words, my goal for this tournament is to have fun and enjoy the simple fact that I am still shooting and have so many more years to do so...

Well, now I am back in the US from Berlin. My archery has yet again taken a hit because I have no place to train. However, I am making every effort to work out and maintain strength and tone in my arms, shoulders, and back muscles. Soon I will return to Archery USA and compete in the Indoor Nationals in Andover.

Meanwhile, I indulged in a another interest of mine... despite that my friends don't think I am the type... I am a big time WWE Wrestling fan. I never miss Monday Night RAW or Friday Night Smackdown. I don't watch ECW only because I don't get that channel. Well, Road to Wrestlemania came to Sacramento and Monday Night RAW came to Oakland... and I was there... RINGSIDE at both!

Besides archery, the Berlin Wall takes up a great deal of my interest. Since I was 16 I have had a fascination for the Berliner Mauer as a structure and as a canvas for expression. When I joined the US Air Force, I was to go to Monterey, CA to become a German Linguist and it was my hope I could be stationed in Germany with any chance of getting to Berlin and most importantly seeing the Berlin Wall or the remains thereof. Desert Storm changed all that and I became a meteorologist, which I don't regret either.

When I finally got my assignment to Germany, I also got an appointment to the US Air Force Academy. Berlin Wall or higher education, I had to choose. Well, putting my interest on hold was wise but when I finally got to Berlin… there was almost nothing left of the Berlin Wall. Remnants were pecked away by Mauer Spechte (wall peckers) and the bold graffiti of the 80’s was marred by tourist doodling and wads of chewing gum disrespectfully squished onto the supposed memorial. It seemed no one cared much for protecting what should be a historical monument.

This jumpstarted my old love affair with the Berlin Wall… enough that my archery has taken a hit in the last years because I spend much of my time travelling to Berlin to research the Berlin Wall for the construction of scale models depicting the different generations of the Berliner Mauer from 1961-1989. My efforts to preserve the Berlin Wall's structure has lead to my work at the Checkpoint Charlie Mauermuseum and being recognized as an authority on the Mauerbau (wall construction).

And recently another unimaginable event happened in conjunction with my passion for the Berlin Wall… I met Thierry Noir... ...my favorite Mauer Kunstler (Wall artist) whose simple yet striking work of caricaturistic heads inspired some of my models. He came to Berlin with nothing and now Thierry Noir is an internationally renowned artist whose painted Wall segments can be found all over the world. Please see his website: Thierry Noir Gallerie